Thursday, March 25, 2004

Jihad Is Over. If You Want It.

So the Israelis make good on their promise to send terrorists and their leaders to an early grave by dispatching Sheikh Ahmed Yassin of Hamas -- seemingly just months before nature itself finished the job on the "spiritual leader." And what happens?

The Palestinians were enraged and vowed to kill more Israelis, but come on, it's pretty hard to wratchet up the rage when you're already at max power. The rage level is at 10. What are they going to do, turn it up to 11? "It's one more."

"The new Hamas leader is even more hard-line than the last one. This worries me. I just want some peace and stability. The top priority is feeding my six children, not Jihad," said Omar Hajaj, 40, a trader.

Could it be that Hamas is loosing its grip at last? Could it be that the average Palestinian is not willing to incinerate himself in order to ensure a Judenrein Middle East? Perhaps there are radicalized believers who are nonetheless more interested in replicating the Israeli's economic and social progress rather than wrecking it.

If so, this would be a very troubling development for those in Europe who claim that terrorism cannot be countered with military force. If the "extralegal" assassination of a crippled old man who inspired one of the most virulent Islamofascist dealth cults -- in a region notable for its virulent dealth cults -- can actually bring a measure of peace to the region then offing Yassin was what's called a game changing event.

The result? First of all, the various death cult leaders may feel their popularity waning . . . and in that part of the world unpopularity can get you killed. Second of all, they may begin to look for more vulnerable targets than Israel and the United States . . . targets such as France or Italy.

"We are sick of seeing heads and body parts. We treat about 100 victims of Israeli troops a month. When I heard Yassin was killed I was sad and worried because Rantissi is more hard-line."

So finally and new calculation is setting in. Every time Hamas mounts a murder "operation" against the Israelis, it's the Palestinians who seem to suffer more. That kind of cause and effect is difficult to express diplomatically. Helicopter gunships generally deliver the message more effectively.

Having experimented with negotiation and conciliation during the Barak years, Israelis are now experimenting with military force focused against the people and organizations most willing to employ violence. And the experiment is working.

One of the most interesting findings of this experiment is that far from breeding more and more terrorists, targeted killings of the most radical thugs seems to decrease the number of radical thugs in a perfect 1:1 ratio.

If all the Palestinians who claimed they wanted to be martyrs actually attempted to become martyrs there would be wave after wave of suicide bombers in numbers limited only by the number of explosive garments the Arab fashion industry is capable of producing in a 17 hour shift.

The world braces for a volcanic eruption of violence in Gaza and what happens? Nothing happens.

That's because the Israelis are not scared to call the bluff of the Islamofascists. They are addressing the root causes of death cult terrorism -- the leaders of the death cults -- knowing that death cult leaders are a finite upset of the larger Palestinian set which is itself a tiny segment of the human being set. Eliminate the subset and al the other sets can live in peace.

Last week a death cult cell scared the bejeebus out of the French government by claiming "We love death as much as you love life." But that's not true. Unless, of course, the author was dead when he wrote that.

At some point the frightened nations of Europe will have to recognize that the root cause of Islamofacsist terrorism is the existence of Islamofacsist terrorists. Reduce their number and you reduce their threat. But give them a seat at the table and soon you'll find yourself sitting all by yourself.